Disney lost an executive this weekend and it may torpedo the next Pirates movie. The suit in question is Dick Cook, who abruptly left his job as the long time head of Walt Disney Studios on Friday. Unfortunately for Pirates of the Caribbean fans not only was he a big deal at Disney he was, apparently, the only reason Johnny Depp played Captain Jack Sparrow.

Speaking to the LA Times Depp says of Cook, “He's instantly trustworthy. And you generally don't meet people at the studios you trust.” With or without Cook, Johnny technically already has a done deal to star in a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie but now he says of his involvement in it “There's a fissure, a crack in my enthusiasm at the moment.” Whether he does the fourth movie now seems to depend not on whether he has a deal, but whether he has a script and whether he feels “enthusiastic” about doing it.

Or, maybe Johnny’s just trying to help Dick Cook getting his job back by vaguely threatening to torpedo Disney’s biggest cash cow. There is no Pirates of the Caribbean 4 without Johnny Depp and there is no money to buy Disney executives new Ferraris without a Pirates of the Caribbean 4. Captain Jack Sparrow swings a big sword at Disney.